Town Square

Highway crash in Palo Alto shuts down lanes

Original post made
on Oct 14, 2012

A multi-vehicle crash involving a large bus left at least one person injured and shut down three lanes on U.S. Highway 101 for more than an hour early Sunday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

I always take the Oregon off ramp and cut over up Middlefiled just to avoid the Embarcadero West Exit. It's so dangerous. Short exit, short merge, confusing and unsafe for the constant stream of cars using it.

Posted by carnage
a resident of Adobe-Meadow
on Oct 14, 2012 at 9:27 am

How many crashes have there been at Embarcadero & Hwy 101 in the past couple of months? I count at least 4 serious crashes with injuries. These $100 million merging lanes are such a poorly managed boondoggle.

What are we going to get when they are finally finished (after 2 years of this mess)? More speeders and more crashes.

How on Earth do two cars and a bus even find each other at 4am on a Sunday morning? The extrapolated number of accidents during weekday rushhour should be exorbitant. Yet one is more likely to find a ladder or mattress in their lane.

Posted by Careful
a resident of another community
on Oct 16, 2012 at 5:38 pm

That can be a deceptively dangerous spot due to the construction. There are still people who dry to drive it "like the old days". Its a short merge in many places, which means mergers may have to go slow and wait until its clear. The problem is, Palo Alto drivers are not known for their "Let the other guy go first" attitudes on the roads, so we have merging crashes. Even without the mergers, though, the road narrows and some lanes have a slight "wiggle" to the left or right, causing drivers to have to make abrupt adjustments...brake lights, a swerve, and suddenly everyone is twitchy and swervey. Its just a nasty spot for now. I commute through it each day and you gotta be on high alert the whole time. Slow works best.